Refugio Amazonas III

Duration: 3 days

Refugio Amazonas is built on private reserve on the buffer zone of the Tambopata National Reserve. Is the ideal short, economic, introductory nature tour to Amazon richest rainforest. Amazing jungle landscapes. Daily departures. t is one of the best deals in Tambopata.

Arrival & Reception by Guide. Our guides are biologists, tourism professionals, or community members. Unless noted otherwise, our guides speak English. We assign guides at 10:1 ratio. This means groups smaller than 10 people will be merged with other groups under one guide. If you would like a private guide or a guide in a language other than English please let us know.

Transfer Airport to Puerto Maldonado Headquarters. Upon arrival from Lima or Cusco, we will welcome you at the airport and drive you ten minutes to our Puerto Maldonado headquarters. While enjoying your first taste of the forest in our gardens we will ask you to pack only the necessary gear for your next few days, and leave the rest at our safe deposit. This helps us keep the boats and cargo light.

Puerto Maldonado to Tambopata River Port. Skirting Puerto Maldonado, we drive 20 kilometers to the Tambopata River Port, entering the Native Community of Infierno. The port is a communal business.

Tambopata River Port to Refugio Amazonas. The two and a half hour boat ride from the Tambopata Port to Refugio Amazonas will take us past the Community of Infierno and the Tambopata National Reserve' checkpoint and into the buffer zone of this 1.3 million hectare conservation unit.

Boxed Lunch.

Orientation. Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips.

Dinner.

Caiman searches. We will be out at the river's edge at night, scanning the shores with headlamps and flashlights to catch the red gleams of reflection from caiman eyes.

Canopy tower: A thirty minute walk from Refugio Amazonas leads to the 25 meter scaffolding canopy tower. A bannistered staircase running through the middle provides safe access to the platforms above. The tower has been built upon high ground, therefore increasing your horizon of the continuous primary forest extending out towards the Tambopata National Reserve. From here views of mixed species canopy flocks as well as toucans, macaws and raptors are likely.

Breakfast.

Farm Visit and Ethnobotanical Garden: Five minutes downriver from the lodge lies a farm owned and managed by charismatic Don Manuel from the neighboring community of Condenado. He grows a variety of popular and unknown Amazon crops - just about every plant and tree you see serves a purpose. He has also identified and cultivated many of the medicinal plants used in the region in a little backyard garden.

Brazil nut trail and camp: A few minutes hike from the lodge is a beautiful old growth patch of Brazil Nut forest that has been harvested for decades (if not centuries) where the precarious remains of a camp used two months a year by Brazil Nut gatherers can still be experienced. We will be demonstrating the whole process of the rain forest's only sustainable harvested product from collection through transportation to drying.

Lunch.

Condenado Oxbow Lake: A forty minute hike takes you Condenado Lake. You paddle canoes around the lake looking for lakeside wildlife such as hoatzin and caiman, hoping to see the otters which are infrequently seen here. You will also be rewarded with overhead sightings of macaws.

Dinner.

Night walk. You will have the option of hiking out at night, when most of the mammals are active but rarely seen. Much easier to find are frogs with shapes and sounds as bizarre as their natural histories.

Transfer Pto Maldonado Headquarters - Airport. We retrace our river and road journey back to Puerto Maldonado, our office and the airport. Depending on airline schedules, this may require dawn departures.

Important Notes

•Expiry Date: 31/12/2016
•Minimum 02 Passengers
•All rates are per person, in U.S. Dollar
•Boat Transportation: All our boats are 20 foot long, roofed canoes with 55 hp outboard motors.
•Daily arrivals and departures from every port are scheduled to meet every airline's arrival and departure with a maximum two hour wait.
•We reserve the right to change the order of activities.
•Price are valid only for foreign tourist, Hotel subject to availability
•Prices are subject to changes without notice due to government tax variations.
•Prices are not valid in special dates (Easter, National Holiday and May 1, Inti Raymi, Christmas and New Year)
•Rate in single room is for 1 person traveling alone, regular services

Natural Construction – An airy lodge built from traditional materials such as wood, palm fronds and clay.

Rooms – Each room comes equiped with a private bathroom, and a common area for dining and socializing. Bedrooms are separated from one another by light cane fencing. Rooms are private but not soundproof.